Andrew Lee and Future Research
The story of Andrew Lee, an African-American landowner in West Mount Vernon during the 1890s, sheds light on the challenges and uncertainties that African-American landowners faced during American history. However, there is a need for more research to be done on Andrew Lee's unanswered questions mentioned earlier in the exhibit. The main missing puzzle would be about Andrew Lee's death, the imposed and paid tax after the loss of property, the relationship between Andrew and Rachel G Lee, and his family.
To provide a more comprehensive look into the history of African-American land ownership during this period, it would be beneficial to connect historical documents and other evidence that couldn't get to this time to direct the answer to these missing puzzles of Andrew Lee and other African-American landowners.
Despite the legal gains during the reconstruction era, systemic barriers still existed to gain wealth and property for African Americans. The confusion and mysteries of his land ownership show the uncertainties of African-American land ownership during the 1890s, with inconsistent record-keeping and legal and social challenges.
By gaining a better understanding of the struggles that many black landowners faced during this period, we can appreciate the story of resilience, complexity, and African Americans' struggles in the post-civil war United States. Thus, acquiring answers to these unanswered questions could be a thread to answer some of the other African-American landowners' questions.
By Haram Kim